Online commerce is evolving with small and sure steps towards success and towards the dethronement of the classic trade on some segments. Today it is much easier to sit on the couch and order what we need, even groceries. Although physical stores will not disappear, especially supermarkets, people will order more and more products that are not crucial, but for which they would waste time in traffic and in the store: accessories, clothes, books, personal care products, and others.
If you have decided to take advantage of e-commerce and open an online store or move your business online, you will first need a web domain and an e-commerce platform on which to operate your business. Today you have several platform options, so it may be difficult for you to make a decision. Therefore, next, we will talk about two of the most popular platforms and we will let you decide which one is the best for you: Magento 2 and OpenCart.
Briefly about Magento 2
Magento is a platform specially created for online stores, launched in 2008. There are several versions of this platform, free or paid, and the most popular is the current Magento Community Edition, version 2.
Why is Magento so popular? Because it is a complex, intuitive platform that offers anyone the possibility to customize an online store. An interesting thing to mention is that even big brands like Coca-Cola, Ford, Nike, Land Rover, and others use Magento.
Magento 2 is an open-source technology and has many advantages:
- SEO Administration
- Easy administration of the catalog
- reporting and analysis system
- shopping cart personalization
- optimization for mobile devices
- supports many currencies and languages and many others.
What is OpenCart?
OpenCart is a free interface, originally developed in 1998 and launched in 1999. The first stable version of this platform was launched only in 2009, and in 2014, OpenCart was supposed to be the number one solution for e-commerce in China.
OpenCart is a solution preferred by beginners because it is user-friendly and very intuitive.
The difference between Magento 2 and OpenCart
Next, we will present the main differences between Magento 2 and OpenCart, both in terms of visitor experience, but also analyzing the experience as a webmaster.
User Interface
The user interface is an extremely important criterion because not all entrepreneurs have advanced knowledge of technology. Therefore, the interface must be simple and intuitive.
Although at first Magento 2 may seem more difficult to use, because it involves some documentation, in the end, you will realize that it is the better choice, because it offers you more options for managing the business than OpenCart. With Magento 2 you also benefit from official documentation for help and support. Both platforms allow you to download many plugins and extensions. Also, choosing Magento 2 will allow you to customize the appearance of the website by installing the Magento 2 Theme that is perfect for you.
Security
Security is an extremely important point, both for webmasters and for clients. The clients fill in all their sensitive data, including debit or credit card details, and expect them to be safe. Thus, it is important to choose the platform that offers you the most options in terms of security.
Magento 2 is excellent because it periodically releases updates that resolve any security patches that may occur and offers you the opportunity to add some extensions that will strengthen the protection of the platform.
OpenCart is also a secure platform, but because some extensions are not constantly monitored, there may be some bugs that can jeopardize the security of the online store. So, Magento 2 wins detached.
Features
It is good to know that both platforms can adapt very well to the size of sales. They are also suitable for entrepreneurs at the beginning of the road, but also for large companies.
However, the differences are more than visible in terms of features. The advantages offered by Magento 2 are superior. This platform is suitable even for a small business that is rapidly evolving, offering you numerous customization possibilities. In some situations, OpenCart may not handle very high traffic because it lacks certain features that Magento 2 has. Also, there are some differences in terms of SEO, which is very important for online business and where Magento 2 wins again.
Plugins and Extensions
Again, Magento2 is the most suitable platform from this point of view. You have over 3600 Magento 2 extensions that can help you customize your online store as you wish. The extensions offer your customers the best experience. You can enjoy both free and paid extensions, which will help you upgrade security, site optimizations, sales, and more.
OpenCart offers a smaller number of extensions and plugins, which will not be able to match the way Magento 2 works at full capacity.
SEO
SEO is a field where you cannot make any compromise because it is the easiest way to the success of your business. Both Magento2 and OpenCart give you the opportunity to enjoy the best SEO tools, but by far the winner is Magento 2. With Magento 2, you can optimize every type of content, including titles and URLs and you can even connect the platform to a blog. OpenCart has certain limitations in terms of SEO, so you can't completely modify and optimize the content.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we can say that although both platforms behave remarkably well, Magento 2 stands out and wins detachedly. It has more features and gives you a better overall experience, which will translate into more sales and more happy customers.